Newton North alum Michael Lichten guides Becker football

Tuesday

Aug 14, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 14, 2012 at 2:17 PM

The implications of the injury were nearly as painful as the injury itself for Michael Lichten during his junior year at Newton North as he faced surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered on Thanksgiving Day against Brookline. A football player from a football family would probably never play football again.

Scott Souza

The implications of the injury were nearly as painful as the injury itself for Michael Lichten during his junior year at Newton North as he faced surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered on Thanksgiving Day against Brookline.

A football player from a football family would probably never play football again.

He was looking at a year’s recovery from the torn ligament, and with only one year left of high school, that meant this was essentially it for the Tiger safety.

With that year gone, the chances to play college ball were probably gone as well.

"I knew I wanted to stay in football," he said. "But, physically, I was unable to do it."

It was too tough for him to be around the North football program not being able to play and he took football out of the equation when he considered colleges. He wound up at the University of New Hampshire, and after two years as "a typical college student studying history" he realized he couldn’t shake the passion for football that remained within him. His father, who played in the high school gridiron hotbed of Tenafly, N.J., had helped fuel that passion and Lichten had begun to second guess its suppression since his injury.

"If I had one regret it was that I stepped away from it at Newton North," he said. "I wish I would have persevered with it a little more.

"But I had made my peace with not being a player anymore."

With that passion reignited, he went to the UNH football office looking for a chance to get back in the game. He wound up serving two years as a student assistant in 2007 and 2008. From there, he went to Northeastern University as a defensive backs coach and wide receiver coach the next when his football life hit another unexpected and disappointing road block.

In 2009, Northeastern abruptly ended its football program.

"I was just starting to sink my teeth into it," he said. "It was tough seeing all those kids have football taken away from them, not to mention that I was out of a job."

But this time, Lichten was undeterred. He landed at Division III Becker College in Leicester as a defensive coordinator. After one season, he was promoted to the head job.

At age 25, he was believed to be the youngest college head coach in the country last year. Now, after a two-win season – the best in the history of a program that’s seen its share of struggles since its 2005 inception - he’s back for a second run.

"I think we are going to have success this year," Lichten said. "Last year fueled us to realize our future potential. This is a very big year for us. We need to reach some of our goals."

Lichten said he is intent on reaching those goals in Leicester before he considers the next phase of a coaching career that is already far beyond that of most 26-year-olds.

"I was 24 when I was hired and to get a job that young you do have an eye of where it might lead you in the future," he said. "I look at Division I schools and the challenges that would come along with coaching at that level. But when I got this job, I told people there were things I wanted to accomplish. We still have a lot to do here."

On the field, Lichten has to figure out ways to get Becker in the win column more often. But coaching at a small Division III school brings with it plenty of off-field demands as well. There is no "football operations" department like there is at Division I, I-AA or II to handle all the oft-overlooked details of a season. There is just Lichten, and his staff, with a hand from the school’s athletic administration.

"You have to be so much more than a football coach," he said. "Whether it’s dealing with equipment, or helping the kids with school, I have a hand in every little thing and all of that is part of the job. You have to excel in all of it to be successful.

"Building Becker as a school is just as much our task as it is any other department here."

Lichten said he recruits throughout the East Coast and as far west as Ohio. He added that he maintains strong relationships with many of his former teachers and coaches at Newton North and is always on the lookout to try to add a former Tiger or a Lion from Newton South to the roster.

He is serious about his coaching and serious about the school he represents. Football was taken away from him as a player with his knee injury, and briefly as a coach with the suspension of Northeastern’s program.

But his passion for the sport is stronger than ever, and he is determined to use that passion to turn around the fortunes of the Becker football program.

(Scott Souza can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com.)